Here we go, the second issue of G.I. JOE, and how does it fare? Pretty damn well I’d have to say. I was a little skeptical at first, but I’m willing to accept that I must let go of the past and move on. I’ve even learned to deal with the fact that Dial Tone is now a girl. So, what makes this issue pretty damn good, but not rock star awesome? Not enough of the Baroness. She’s on the front cover, yet she only gets two pages and a panel. But we’ll get more into that later.

What have we learned since last month? Plenty. The odd box that was picked up by the JOE team that stormed the freighter in issue #0 is, as we all presumed, transmitting to a villainous headquarters. And that headquarters just happens to be in Scotland and belongs to the man in the iron mask himself, Destro! Yay! Well, Destro sans the iron mask, but Destro nonetheless. So now we’ve got the Baroness and Destro, the greatest of comic couples (sorry MJ and Spidey) together again in the same issue. Romantic tryst? Think again.

Meanwhile back at the ranch Pit, the Joes are battling some creepy robot spiders that Destro unleashed from his box of mysterious transmittance, and Bankshot is killed. Don’t know who Bankshot is--he must have been made up for the new series as cannon fodder, or as we all lovingly know them "green shirts." Also battling are Duke and Scarlet, who seem to have had some history together that ended in a bad and bitter way. Then in the Philippines, Stalker, Leatherneck and Recondo are hunting down a target only to get foiled by someone who looks like Snake Eyes. We then find out that Snake Eyes has gone AWOL and is out of contact with everyone except Scarlet.

The series is starting to roll now with the introduction of the bad guys. No Cobra Commander yet, but hopefully soon. With the Baroness already on the scene, good ol’ CC can’t be far behind. I was a little disappointed that there wasn’t more Baroness since she’s my favorite, but from what I understand there’s going to be a royal rumble coming up in the next few issues between Destro and the Baroness. I was hoping for a good old-fashioned Cobra/G.I. JOE beat down, but I guess Chuck Dixon is going to make us wait.

I'm really digging on the art. All the characters look great. They’re pretty true to their former selves, with a few exceptions. The work isn’t anything fancy, but it's rock solid. It doesn’t need to be whimsical or any of that nonsense – this is G.I. JOE. As long as we can tell who is who, we’ll be fine.

The transition so far is going well I think. I’m still not convinced that a reboot was needed so soon, but I’m not against it. Dixon has got me hooked now, with Snake Eyes acting outside the regular team. I’ve got to know why the hero of the G.I. JOE team has gone all rogue agent on us. I just hope this doesn’t turn into the Snake Eyes and Scarlet Show again. I got a bit tired of reading about those two all the time.

I’m hooked, you’re hooked, we’re all hooked. It’s GI Joe, and in any form it’s good.

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